Where do your property taxes really go?

When you pay your property taxes, your payment is allocated to a number of entities in Contra Costa County. Some of these entities and the specific amounts allocated to them are listed on your tax bill. However, the details of most of them are "collapsed" into the 1% Countywide Tax and are not listed on your property tax bill.

This document describes how to access the county website so you can examine the allocation of the 1% Countywide Tax for your individual tax bill.

First you'll need to find out what your Tax Rate Area (TRA) is. Each property parcel is designated as being in a specific TRA. Much (but not all) of Alamo is in TRA 66009. Note that two adjacent parcels may be in different TRAs.

Determine your Tax Rate Area:

Your TRA is on your property tax bill. If you don't have your tax bill handy, you can look up your TRA on the county website. Click on the following web address:

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/index.asp?nid=1742

If the county's website links haven't changed, this will take you directly to the Payment History page. If the above link doesn't work, go to the Contra Costa County website home page by clicking on the following web address:

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/

Now make the following sequential menu selections:

Departments > Departments H-Z > Treasurer--Tax Collector > Look Up / Pay Taxes > Payment History

You should now be on the Payment History page.

Click on Current Fiscal Year. This will take you to the Account Lookup for Current Year Taxes page. If you know your parcel number, enter that. Otherwise enter your address. Note that your address suffix (avenue, lane, etc.) and your city must be selected using the drop-down menus.) Click on "find."

You should now be on the Account Summary page. Your Tax Rate Area number will be at the bottom of the page. Make a note of it because you will now need to go to another area of the county website to view the specific allocations for your TRA.

Find your specific tax allocations:

Click on the following web address:

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/index.asp?nid=1125

As before, if the county's website links haven't changed, this will take you directly to the Where Your Property Tax Dollars Go page. If the above link doesn't work, go to the Contra Costa County website home page by clicking on the following web address:

http://www.co.contra-costa.ca.us/

Now make the following sequential menu selections:

Departments > Departments A-G > Auditor--Controller > Tax Information

You should now be on the Where Your Property Tax Dollars Go page.

Enter your TRA number at the bottom of the page. This will take you to a table of allocations for your TRA. To find the actual amount paid to each entity, take that percentage of your property tax amount. For TRA 66009, if your property tax is $7,000 the amount paid to the County Library is about $108 (1.55% of $7,000).